Walton Isaacson Appoints Jeff Davidoff as Its First President

Walton Isaacson appointed longtime marketer Jeff Davidoff as president effective immediately. This is a new position at the agency.

“In a sea of sameness Walton Isaacson stands out in the caliber of their creative, their diversity of thought and people and most importantly the enduring value they deliver to their clients,” said Davidoff in a statement. “I very much look forward to helping shape the bold future of the planet’s most interesting agency which, like me, is passionate about the power of ideas, people and creativity.”

Davidoff arrives at Walton Isaacson from “not com” domain owner and operator Donuts, where he has served as CMO since October of 2014. Prior to that he spent nearly four and a half years serving as CMO at ONE, the grassroots advocacy and campaigning organization founded by Bono. That followed a little over a year in the same role at Orbitz Worldwide. Before that he spent six years as vice president, brand marketing and communications at Whirlpool. Prior to going client-side again with Whirlpool, he served for seven years as executive vice president, managing director at Upshot, the integrated marketing agency he co-founded after serving as vice president, national marketing division for Citibank for over five years.

“Jeff Davidoff embodies Walton Isaacson’s purpose-driven culture. From his ground breaking LGBT Orbitz work to Whirlpool’s Habitat for Humanity campaign, Jeff marries ideas and impact,” Walton Isaacson co-founder Cory Isaacson said in a statement. “As CMO for ONE, Jeff was laser focused on action as the real game-changer. Everyone should work with a Jeff Davidoff in his or her career and now all of our talented WI team members will get to do just that.”

“Having worked with Jeff as a client I am excited to have him join our team. We share core values and a common vision of where marketing is headed and of our agency’s role within that changing landscape,” added fellow co-founder Aaron Walton. “Recognizing that innovation and diversity go hand in hand, Jeff has a proven track record of success fueled by the power of possibility.”

German Agency Thjnk Dares to Pitch Bono at Cannes…and Wins

Never underestimate the power of chutzpah.

Oddly enough, it took a German ad man to prove that point. One of the last stories from Cannes-Lions making its way into the headlines concerns the bold actions of Michael Trautmann, CEO of German-based Thjnk.

ICYMI, Bono was discussing AIDS awareness and his foundation (RED) when he brought Jony Ive, Apple Design SVP, on stage and gave the backhanded compliment heard ’round the hipster nation. Following the applause and passing of the Kool-Aid at Genius Bars, Trautmann did the unthjnkable.

And it worked.

(more…)

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Bono Tries to Guilt You Into Downloading U2?s New Song

You probably saw the trailer for U2′s new music video, directed by Mark Romanek, for their latest release “Invisible” during the big game last night, but here it is in case you fell asleep during one of the most boring Super Bowl games in recent memory.

“Invisible,” which was produced by Danger Mouse and mixed by Tom Elmhirst, is available for free on iTunes today until 11:59 PM (the track first became available for download last night following the Super Bowl). While normally that would still be too much to pay for a new U2 song, for every download Bank of America will be making a one dollar donation to the Global Fund via RED, Bono‘s organization set up to channel funds to the Global Fund to Fight Aids. This new partnership “sees Bank of America committing $10m to (RED), and has resulted in a $10 million match from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as well as $1 million each from both SAP and South Africa’s Motsepe Family – bringing the total commitment to $22 million.” So the latest development in the “Well his music really sucks, but at least he does all those nice things for AIDS relief in Africa,” sees Bono attempting to guilt you into downloading U2′s latest snoozefest so that you can make a contribution to RED free of charge. Or you could just go ahead and make a donation, essentially paying a fee to avoid having anything to do with U2′s music. Credits after the jump. continued…

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